Kiptoch, Sylvia C

As part of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunity program, Kenya's government passed the Public Procurement Preference and Reservation Law to make it easier for youth, women, and people with disabilities to partake in public procurement (GoK, 2013; Langat et al. 2016). In the act, this segment of the population is here referred to as special group. Organizational considerations, such as budget allocation, supplier development, and procurement structure, might, however, influence the policy's implementation (Singh, 2015). Given their demographic and contribution to the economy, the Procurement Preference and Reservation Law were enacted to ensure that the group receives at least thirty percent (30%) of all government contracts. Despite these initiatives, state parastatals averaged less than the 30% percent allocated to the special group which implies that the law is not fully been followed, thereby necessitating this research. To achieve the objectives, the study examined the proportion of budget allocated towards young people, women, and people with disabilities among Kenyan commercial state parastatals, regulate the influence of supplier development, and procurement structure on the implementation of public procurement preference and reservation Law among Kenyan commercial state parastatals as well as the mediating effect of access to finance on implementation of the Law. The institutional theory, the social economic theory and resource-based theory, as well as some empirical studies, are part of the works of literature that has influenced this project. To test the hypothesis, a descriptive research design was adopted and target population was two respondents from each of the 31 commercial state corporations in Kenya. The data collected through a structured questionnaire were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. with a response rate of 77%. The study concluded that there is a positive and significant relationship between supplier development and implementation of the reservation and preference law among Kenyan commercial state corporations. In addition, the findings also indicated that organizational factors account for up to 21% of the variation in the implementation of the law. All the factors were positive and significant on implementation of the law. Finally, it was concluded that access to finance partially mediate the relationship. Given that access to finance played a role in implementation of the law as demonstrated by challenges in accessing funds, there was a need for the corporations to seek alternatives ways of funding the special groups. The study recommends and improvement in adoption of supplier development practices such as conducting training for the special group since this has been done a moderate extent. Finally, as part of the recommendation, the public procurement should establish an independent body to facilitate capacity development of special group. URI

More than 50 percent of the population in developing countries does not have any form of financial account. Lesotho is not an exemption because about 38 percent of adults have no bank account. This suggests that a significant percentage of the adult population lacks access to financial services in the country. Considering the role of financial inclusion in social-political and economic development, many studies have been conducted in developed nations to establish how it is impacted by financial technology. The few studies done on Lesotho primarily focus on one measure of financial technology, mobile money. This study intends to fill the gap by assessing the effect of other measures; mobile money transfer, online and ATM banking, bank infrastructure on financial technology in Lesotho. The study employed 9-year secondary quarterly series sourced from the World Development Indicators and the Central Bank of Lesotho. Both descriptive and inference analyses were used for analysis purposes. The correlation analysis indicates that mobile money transfer, online banking, ATM banking, banking infrastructure, and interest rates are positively associated with financial inclusion. In contrast, economic growth has a negative relationship with financial inclusion. Findings from the regression analysis show that all measures of financial technology positively impacted financial inclusion except mobile money transfer. Also, the estimated model has an R-Squared of 0.92, which implies that whenever there is variation in financial inclusion, the independent variables are responsible for 92 percent of the changes. The study recommends increasing bank branches, especially in remote areas, enhancing deposits accounts which lead to growth in deposit and withdrawal transactions.

Situation Analysis Practices and Performance of Selected Enterprises in Chinese Tourism Industry

To offer efficient service delivery, public sector organizations have come under immense pressure to improve employee performance by effectively managing change. Various change management practices have been adopted by different public sector agencies, many adopting them from the private sector in their pursuit to enhance employee performance. Kisumu County Public Service Board has been involved in change management practices in their endeavour to improve service delivery through management of its human resources. The objective of this study was to establish the influence of change management practices on employee performance; a case of Kisumu County public service board. The study was anchored on the contingency and institutional theories respectively. The study adopted across-sectional descriptive design. The target population were all employees employed by the County public service board of Kisumu. Since all were administered questionnaire to, a census was conducted. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data and the resultant findings presented using tables. The study sought to study was to establish the influence of change management practices on employee performance. A case of; Kisumu county public service board, Kenya. According to the descriptive statistics results; the study reported that indicated that the board was highly involved in making people aware on the need for change (Mean 3.79; SD 1.008) but did very little to motivate people to change (Mean 1.91 SD 1.055). The study also reported communication between the board and stakeholders was effectively being undertaken. (Mean 3.29; SD 1.404) but did very little in empowering employees to change (Mean 1.88; SD 1.066). The study also reported that the board had developed strategies to sustain change (Mean 3.91; SD 1.111) but little training was done to support the change. Inferential statistics findings showed change management practices significantly influenced employee performance. The findings indicated that unfreezing which was operationalized by change awareness creation, support to the change process, creating the need for change and managing the change outfall was found to significantly influence employee performance with the value (P<0.001).The results also indicate that moving which was operationalized by communication, dispelling misinformation, empowering action and stakeholders’ involvement was found to be significant in influencing employee performance, (P<0.000). Lastly, anchoring change, sustaining change, and training and celebrating change was significantly found to influence employee performance (P<0.000). The study concluded that Change management practices were significant in influencing employee performance. The study recommends that change management processes should be undertaken in other Counties’ Public Service Boards in Kenya to enhance their performance. The study was limited by scope due to COVID-19 that limited the collection of qualitative data.

Making right and informed choices is important in attaining organizational goals. Organizational supervisors are charged with the duty of formulating different strategies and plans to ensure smooth running and provision of latest and reliable data relating to organizational assets. This study sought to examine the influence of project management information system (PMIS) on the decision-making processes in an environment characterized by multiple projects within the healthcare sector of Kenya. Its purpose was to determine how the quality and quantity of PMIS information, project management, and PMIS information sharing in complex and multi-project environment influence decision-making processes. The study utilized a cross-sectional study design. The study population comprised of stakeholders who are the actual users of the Ministry of Health Project Management Information System DHIS2 (MoH PMIS DHIS2) platform and project leaders, including international development partners, division and departmental heads in the ministry of health, as well as county governments. A structured questionnaire was employed to gather data. The findings unmasked that the quality of information has a substantial and direct effect on the quality of decisions made. Quality information results in quality decisions. It was also found that the quantity of information, project management in complex environments, as well as PMIS information sharing directly and significantly affects the quality of decisions made. The study made the following recommendations: policymakers within the health sector need to encourage information exchange and sharing to help in better decision-making, project managers to secure quality project management information system while managing their projects, and the ministry of health need to ensure that the is sufficient and appropriate information in the PMIS to make better decisions within the industry.

Turnaround strategies are adopted by organizations for the purpose of survivability. The study sought out to find the turnaround strategies adopted by Mumias Sugar Company limited and the factors influencing the implementation of turnaround strategies at MSC. The study adopted a case study research design. The study collected data from four managers from the following departments; Finance, Operations, Information technology and Human resource department. Primary data was collected through the use of Interview guides and analyzed by the use of content analysis. The study established MSC adopted several turnaround strategies with the aim of transforming the organization to a profit making institution. The strategies adopted were asset reduction, financial restructuring, and cost reduction, reorganization of management, reduction of workforce, new innovations and technology adoption and diversification of products. Despite all these strategies being adopted by MSC, the company continued performing poorly. The poor performance is attributed to factors that influenced the implementation of the turnaround strategies. The factors that the studied identified are political interferences, corruption, mismanagement, poor management, poor planning and low morale among employees. The study first recommends that Mumias Sugar Company can convert some debts into equity, this will later result into cash flows for the company. Secondly, the company should focus more building interfirm collaborations and business level learning to enhance business knowledge. Thirdly, the study recommends Mumias Sugar should come up with new products which will impact positively on the profits of the company and improve on the customer base. Forth the study recommends Mumias Sugar company should reorganize its operations and strategies with a small number of workforce who will not compromise on quality. Fifth, the company should invest in innovation and technology so as to improve its production to zero wastages, reduction in production cost, improvement in products quality and having an efficient production system. Sixth, the company should focus on diversification with the aim of opening other channels of revenue. Lastly the study recommends the company should dispose of assets that are not in operational and close divisions, operations or units that are making losses and are a burden to the company.

With reference to significant telecommunication enterprises in Kenya, the study intended to determine the impact of strategic leadership and knowledge management on the connection between competitiveness and technological advancement. Four theories, including technological networks Porter's sustainable competitive advantage model, theory of innovation, knowledge-based view, and dynamic capability theory as well as previous empirical investigations driven by specific aims, drove the study. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional survey design and utilized the positivist philosophy. A census was performed to determine the target population, which included all 83 significant licensed telecoms service providers in Kenya. The questionnaire was distributed via a variety of tactics, as determined by the respondents. The tools were administered later, but when respondents desired alternative ways of communication, such as email, the investigator arranged and shared the instruments in soft copy with them. Through a pilot study and following data gathering procedures, pretests were conducted to assess instrument validity and internal consistency. The data was then analyzed using both expressive and statistical computations. Statistical techniques comprised statistical tests, which were used to evaluate the presented hypotheses. descriptive analytics comprised frequencies, percentages, averages, and standard deviations. The findings show that technical innovation has a large and beneficial impact on competitive advantage. It was also discovered that leadership that is strategic has a favorable and considerable impact on the connection between technological advancement and competitiveness. Knowledge management was also found to exhibit a full mediating effect on the connections between advancement that is technological and competitiveness. Strategic leadership has a higher impact on competitive advantage than both technological innovation and knowledge management, according to the findings. The study's main disadvantage was its reliance on respondents' desire to participate and limited time available, which made it vulnerable to non-response. To solve this, the researcher used the "drop and pick" method, in which respondents were given adequate time with the questionnaires and were permitted to respond at their leisure before the researcher collected the completed questionnaires. In the telecommunications industry and beyond, the study has significant ramifications for policy model, practice of strategic management, and theory insinuations. The study would benefit the government of Kenya at the policy level by ensuring that policymakers and regulatory authorities in the telecommunications sector come up with coherent policies that encourage knowledge management, strategic leadership, and technological advancement as a strategy for increasing competitive advantage. Managers should consider making innovations a formalized processby establishing the necessary direction and controls to allow for the advent of value creation and innovation for long-term competitive advantage. The implications of the study's findings expanded and reinforced the theories that informed the study.

Strategic management research has demonstrated that strategic planning coupled with implementation is instrumental for superior performance. However, strategy formulation on its own may not achieve any results against the turbulent and dynamic nature of the environment, unless backed by a clear and well aligned implementation process. The impact of strategy implementation on organizational achievement could be dependent on other variables such as available resources and operating environment. The main focus of this study was to assess the influence of strategy implementation, organizational resources and operating environment on performance of Kenya owned State Corporations. The study was rooted in the Institutional Theory and supported by Resource Based View (RBV), Dynamic Capabilities Theory (DCT), and the New Public Management (NPM) Theory. The population of this study comprised all the 249 Kenya owned State Corporationss. Out of these, 181 managed to respond, representing a 72.7 per cent response rate. Data, collected through a structured questionnaire, was processed for reporting of descriptive and inferential statistics both of which were tied to the specific objectives of the inquiry. The study established that State Corporations formulate strategies and implement them effectively. The regression analysis results revealed that strategy implementation had a positive and significant effect on organizational performance. This finding was well grounded in the DCT, Institutional Theory, NPM theory and was corroborated by numerous other studies. Both organizational resources and operating environment were found to have no moderating effect on the relationship between strategy implementation and performance. However, the complexity dimension of operating environment was found to significantly influence the relationship between strategy implementation and organizational performance. The results also showed that the joint effect of strategy implementation, organizational resources and operating environment was less than the sum effect of the independent variables in isolation. The study has made important contributions to policy design and management of Kenya owned SCs. Managers need to ensure reconfiguration of the structure and culture of the organization in a manner that promotes successful outcomes. They also ought to have a grasp of organizational changes so as to design the necessary structural changes for supporting the strategy implementation process. This may advice on the need for policy thrust to shift more to strategy implementation over and above strategic planning by putting in place measures to monitor and evaluate implementation. The study has also contributed to the existing body of knowledge by interlinking the NPM Theory, DCT Theory, Institutional Theory and the RBV. The study has several limitations, among them the fact that the variables applied only accounted for 51.7 per cent variation in organizational performance. The rest of the performance could be explained by other factors outside this study. The study also focused solely on public organizations which may face different challenges from those faced by State Corporations. The study recommends that future researchers could consider exploring the influence of other factors on organizational performance in addition to replicating the study in organizations within the private sector.

The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm performance (FP) has attracted attention of scholars and policy makers. There is no convergence in the existing literature as to whether CSR directly leads to improved FP or it enhances corporate image which eventually translates into better FP. Moreover, it is not clear whether CSR-FP linkage is contingent upon the size of the firm. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship among CSR, corporate image, firm size and performance of firms listed at the Nairobi securities exchange (NSE). This study is anchored on legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, resource based theory and signaling theory. Regarding philosophical orientation, the study is grounded on positivist research paradigm. Descriptive cross-sectional research design was adopted where a census survey of 61 firms listed at the NSE was undertaken. The data gathered was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics involved computation of the mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values. Inferential statistics entailed the application of regression analysis as the principal estimation technique. From the hypotheses tested, numerous findings were reported. First, there was a positive significant linkage between CSR and FP. Secondly, corporate image fully mediated the relationship between CSR and FP. Thirdly, firm size moderated CSR-FP relationship and synergistic interaction was reported. Lastly, there was a significant joint effect among CSR, image size and FP. The study made significant contribution to theory development, policy formulation and management practice. The findings complemented the key propositions of stakeholder theory, resource based view, legitimacy theory as well as signaling theory. On the policy implication, policy prescriptions were made recommendations on development of CSR performance indices as well as image indices tailored for the local context as well as providing a framework for mandatory CSR activities by the corporate bodies based on Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Concerning management practice, implementation of better CSR practices helps in fostering good relationships with key stakeholders which improves corporate image which in turn translates into better FP. The study had numerous limitations such as, the study being carried out in a single country context hence inhibiting generalizability of findings; study being cross-sectional in nature hence failing to consider what happens after the snapshot and finally lack of universally accepted metrics for operationalizing CSR, corporate image and FP. Finally, the study made suggestions for areas for further study such as testing the bi-directional CSR-FP relationship; using different metrics to operationalize the study variables; using cross-country samples in empirical investigations; using distinct mediating and moderating variables; and finally using longitudinal datasets for analogous studies.